Sudanese woman previously sentenced to death arrives in United States

Mariam Ibrahim's case, sentenced to death for apostasy, stirred international concern

Mariam
Ibrahim from Sudan, at one time sentenced to die for her Christian
faith has since arrived at her new home in the United States. Her plight
was of grave international concern. Greeted by her husband and two
young children at a large crowd of supporters at Manchester-Boston
Regional Airport in New Hampshire, she declined comment to the media.

Greeted by her husband and two young children at a large crowd of supporters at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire, Mariam Ibrahim declined comment to the media.

"She has inspired the world with her extraordinary courage and resilience, and I join all Granite Staters in extending a warm welcome to Mariam and her family," Ayotte said.

Ibrahim's ordeal began after a Muslim relative filed a criminal complaint saying she had married Daniel Wani, a Christian, after going missing for several years. A Sudanese court declared that Ibrahim was a Muslim because her father was Muslim.

She was charged with adultery on grounds that a Muslim woman's marriage to a Christian man is illegal in Sudan. She was also charged with apostasy, accused of illegally renouncing what was alleged to be her original faith.

Convicted in May while eight months pregnant, Ibrahim gave birth about two weeks later in a women's hospital in Khartoum.

Ibrahim had been detained since mid-January. She refused to let go of her 20-month-old son, Martin, for fear she would never see him again.

Born to a Sudanese Muslim father and an Ethiopian Orthodox mother, Ibrahim's father left when she was just six years old. She was raised by her mother as a Christian.

A Sudanese court overturned Ibrahim's death sentence a few weeks ago. Police arrested her again in late June when she and her family tried to leave Sudan to go to the United States. Wani is an American citizen who has lived in Manchester since 1998.

Police had accused her of falsifying travel documents in an attempt to fly to the U.S. with her family. They were taken into custody at the airport in the capital, Khartoum.

The family had been confined to a safe house in Sudan until last week, when they traveled to Italy.

Manchester, the largest city in northern New England has long served as a resettlement site for refugees from dozens of countries who have been scattered throughout the U.S. by the State Department.

Since the late 1990s, more than 500 people from what is now South Sudan were resettled in New Hampshire, the majority of them in Manchester, according to refugee advocates.

Pope Francis Prayer Intentions for OCTOBER 2017
Workers and the Unemployed. That all workers may receive respect and protection of their rights, and that the unemployed may receive the opportunity to contribute to the common good.